I have a few questions on bullet seating relative to the proper distance off the lands and grooves.
The gun is a Savage 243. Loading 85 gr spitz. I did initial seating at Speer tested COL 2.625". I then started with an empty case and backed off on the seating die quite a ways. Minimally seated a bullet then gently attempted to chamber the round and incrementally seated the bullet further until it reached the point at which the round could be easily chambered. The length then was 2.73 (still able to fit in the magazine). The difference in depths was .11".
My questions are:
I don't have a specialized bullet seating depth tool/gauge. Is the method I used as described above accurate for finding the min depth/max COL?
Does .11" variation in depths sound accurate?
How far, at a minimum, should the bullet be off the lands and grooves? I know this varies but is their a general rule for small-medium caliber rifles?
Is splitting the difference between max and min depths (using Speer tested COLs) and just sticking with that okay if I don't want to do a lot of test firing on various bullet depths?
In one reloading manual it recommends rifle bullets be seated to between .030 and .070" for best accuracy. Is that universal?
Thanks.
L2K5
The gun is a Savage 243. Loading 85 gr spitz. I did initial seating at Speer tested COL 2.625". I then started with an empty case and backed off on the seating die quite a ways. Minimally seated a bullet then gently attempted to chamber the round and incrementally seated the bullet further until it reached the point at which the round could be easily chambered. The length then was 2.73 (still able to fit in the magazine). The difference in depths was .11".
My questions are:
I don't have a specialized bullet seating depth tool/gauge. Is the method I used as described above accurate for finding the min depth/max COL?
Does .11" variation in depths sound accurate?
How far, at a minimum, should the bullet be off the lands and grooves? I know this varies but is their a general rule for small-medium caliber rifles?
Is splitting the difference between max and min depths (using Speer tested COLs) and just sticking with that okay if I don't want to do a lot of test firing on various bullet depths?
In one reloading manual it recommends rifle bullets be seated to between .030 and .070" for best accuracy. Is that universal?
Thanks.
L2K5